Bill sends message to car thieves

OLYMPIA — State lawmakers want to crack down on joyrides, shut down chop shops and keep car thieves off the streets by boosting car-theft penalties and prevention.

House Bill 1001 would focus on treatment for juveniles, toughen adult sentences and criminalize the possession of tools used to steal cars, such as slim jims, false master keys and lock pullers.

The bill was referred to the House Appropriations Committee this week after passing out of the Human Services Committee and the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee.

"We need to send a clear message to car thieves that, from our perspective, enough is enough." said state Rep. John Lovick, who spent 31 years in law enforcement and sponsored the bill.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau says the Seattle metropolitan region had the nation's sixth-highest car-theft rate in 2005, and Yakima was 10th.

Lovick, D-Mill Creek, said so many cars get stolen because the same thieves are allowed to commit the crime over and over.

Taylor Norton, a 22-year-old Arlington man, recently told police he stole 200 to 300 vehicles in Snohomish and King counties. That tops Liam Moynihan, 23, of Seattle, who claimed to have stolen 136 cars in King County.

"Right now there is no reason not to steal a car," Lovick said, noting that offenders have to be caught seven times before getting a prison sentence.

His bill is named after Seattle police Officer Elizabeth Nowak, who was killed last November when a thief with a lengthy criminal history slammed a stolen car into her BMW while she was driving to work.

State lawmakers say underfunded enforcement and weak laws allowed that felon to stay on the streets and also are to blame for the state's more than 40,000 car thefts last year.

"I arrest these people, I risk my life and I risk the public's life, and nothing happens to them," said Bill Hanson, executive director of the Washington State Fraternal Order of Police.

King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng said government officials should take car theft more seriously.

People believe "we have got to divert our attention to rapes and robberies," he said, but "the public believes this is a serious crime."

The bill would create the Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority to analyze auto crimes and make recommendations to the governor and Legislature, provide more money to prosecutor and jail offenders, give prison time after three car thefts instead of seven and slap juvenile offenders with bigger fines and longer home detention.

More money also would go to juvenile drug, alcohol and mental-health assessment and treatment.

A $10 surcharge on traffic infractions, such as speeding, would generate about $8 million a year to fund the new measures, with half going to the Auto Theft Prevention Authority and the rest to the Department of Corrections, Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration and counties and municipalities.

But Lovick said he expects stepped-up prevention and enforcement to pay for itself.

Vehicle theft "is costing society a ton of money," he said, and "less crime saves everybody money."

Elliott Wilson: 360-236-8169 or ewilson@seattletimes.com